By Katie Patton in Sports
The Clark women’s basketball team has been eliminated from the Northwest Athletic Conference tournament after its 70-53 loss to Blue Mountain Monday afternoon.
The Penguins finished the tournament with a 1-3 record and went 15-9 on the season.
Clark found itself fighting to stay in the game seven minutes in. The Blue Mountain Timberwolves had sizable leads throughout the game shooting 42 percent from the field compared to Clark’s 32 percent.
“It’s been a tough tournament,” said Clark center Alexa Orcutt. “The ball didn’t always fall the way we wanted it to, but we always played hard and gave it our all.”
The Penguins were out rebounded 46-39.
Leading the Timberwolves throughout the tournament is Vancouver native Mar’Shay Moore (Fort Vancouver High School) averaging close to 30 points per game. Moore had 25 points, 10 rebounds and four steals against the Penguins.
“The main part for me is to come out here and have as much fun as I can,” Moore said. “Just being here is fantastic and a blessing. I love to be able come out and help my team as much as I can.”
According to Aldridge, Clark has lost a lot of players to injuries this year. “On top of it all we also lost (Michaela Bitanga) yesterday,” he said. “It’s really hard to play through it all. You could tell our girls were tired, and without a deep bench we found the score slipping away from us.”
This will the first year that Aldridge won’t be bringing back a trophy from the NWAC tournament since being hired three years ago.
“This is a great group of girls,” he said. “They have fought so hard and it is a true testament to their character that they were able to make it this far and beat the number one seed in the East (Walla Walla).”
Leading Clark with points against Blue Mountain was Orcutt with 17 and Taylor Howlett with 16.
“This being my last year with Clark I have so enjoyed my teammates and the school,” Howlett said. “Although we wanted to have a different outcome to our time here, we still did a great job with everything that we have come through this season. I’m proud to be a Penguin, and this team has helped me realize who I am as a player and a person.”
